


Rain Festival

by Manya_Kami



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Babysitter!Makoto, Child!Haruka, Gen, Loosely based off of Alice In Wonderland, No romantic nor sexual relationship is portrayed in this fic, OOCness, Odd Narration, Overall Just a Very Weird Fic, Poetic, Surrealism, artistic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-11-29 05:59:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11434611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manya_Kami/pseuds/Manya_Kami
Summary: Little Haru loves to play in the summer rain.





	Rain Festival

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to go ahead and say this now: this work was not originally intended to be a Free! fanfiction.
> 
> I wrote the original piece as a free-verse poem inspired by Alice In Wonderland, containing original characters that held no weight in the actual writing. That version will NOT be posted on this site, however.
> 
> What you are about to read is cleaned, censored version lacking some of the darker underlying themes that I had intended to come through with the original piece, using characters from Free! Iwatobi Swim Club.
> 
> I'm letting you all know before, because this might feel strange to read (especially for a fandom like Free!) and I want you to be prepared for the overall lack of anything shippy or canon-related. The reasoning behind choosing Free! as the fandom is simply centered around Haruka's fascination with water.

_Drip, drop._

_Splish, splash._

Coins of rain putter the ground, beading the sky in rinds and bringing it down to Earth, where the divvied terrain cradles soupy pools in a childish word; say _puddle_. It's really funny, isn't it?

_Puddle, puddle._

_Pitter-patter._

I suppose though, rain is a very childish thing, isn't it? Drizzly, like syrup. Sticky and sugar-sweet things tend to attract the attention of small children, don't they? They attracted little Haru, who sticks his little tooth-pick arms into a T to catch the falling  _pings_ upon himself. Rolling down the slicked rain jacket, rolling, rolling...

From under the protection of the house elder eyes peel back to watch closely, carefully. This wondered little child is Makoto's duty whilst his parents are away. That's why we must keep Haru safe, for his parents will surely crumble should they have nothing to cradle close whence they return.

_Pitter, pitter, pitter..._

But oh! 

You see.

How little Haru adores the summer sun-kissed rain! Makoto is only a weak-hearted boy, he cannot deny this child such an innocent pleasure. 

But the watch of the elder boy could not be close enough, for Makoto's weary eyes are turned away when little Haru's squeaky yellow rain-boots skid across the slipper-slick mud. Uneasy footing tips the tiny boy forward, and his frail body plunges into a nearby puddle.

_Splash!_

Dollups of water unfurl around Haru's precious little body, and he is engulfed in gentle green waters. So little is he, though, that his mind cannot register the lack of air getting to his lungs, as the green-blue pool travels deeper down his esophagus.

Saphiric eyes look around in awe. How truly wonderful!

The puddle has swallowed him, into a world so strange and unknown, surely no human has seen these fabulous wonders before!

In his childish curiosity, little Haru makes a grab for the frilled fins of the stained-glass fish, drifting by. It's eyes are so swollen, that it does not even appear to see Haru! How silly is that?

 _Hello, Mr. Fish!_ The little child thinks, but when he opens his mouth to speak, he finds that his voice has been stolen away, by the water.

The water, which feels so impossibly heavy in these little lungs, that their immense weight has drug little Haru down, down, down, and so he has found himself at the bottom of the puddle, where the underwater city is bustling with activity.

Really, I thought it would be so dark down here, at the bottom of the puddle! But we didn't need to worry. The residents of the city have strung up many lanterns, candy crimson, apple green, summertime gold! 

The lights, the lights.

These lights are so pretty, aren't they, little Haru?

He wants to touch them, chubby fingers reach out, he just wants to touch...

(What, in the world, could be the source of this light, submerged beneath the water?)

_"Outta the way! Hey!"_

Pulling curious fingers back with newfound timidness, little Haru is remotely aware that someone faraway is shouting, but tiny Haru's ears are hollowed out with water, and he doesn't know what they're saying.

_"Heeeeey! Outta the - Ack!"_

Quite suddenly, there is a crash, and little Haru's body is sent spiraling backwards.

The water curls so coldly and heavily into his frail, slight form.

Gaining his bearings, he looks up - oh my!

In front of this child is a great catfish, feelers curled into a rather stylish look, donning a dapper baret and holding the handlebar of a bicycle.

This is silly! Haru wants to laugh, to giggle at the oddity, opens his mouth to do so - but he can't, water has clogged his voice box.

With the look of a very frustrated old man, the catfish opens its mouth.

_"Kid, didn't I tell ya to watch out? Be more careful next time."_

But Haru couldn't hear what he was told, and watches dumbly as the friendly fish pats him on the back, and mounts his bicycle, rolling away through the water.

The further away he goes, the less Haru can see. It's so murky, that ways off...

But murky isn't exciting. The bustling underwater market  _is,_ though.

There are stalls, carpets with strange, colorful wares laid out, food trucks, and booths!

But that's hardly the funniest part - they're all run by fish!

An eel appears to be selling clothes over there, and a koi has got some neat trinkets set up for sale over here, but on the other side of the street, a crawfish has set up at food carte.

Haru waddles over. His once so squeaky shoes are weighed down with the blue, blue film, tying him down and into the gritty sand.

Little Haru looks at the table though. There are shining, brightly colored orbs spread across it. He picks one up, and it's soft to the touch, squishy, like taffy.

_Candy!_

Chubby fingers work the treat into Haru's mouth, and it splays over his tongue surprisingly easy. It's sticky and sour, like melting cherries that glisten beneath the evening summer sun.

A sizzling feeling crackles through his nerves, like a millipede, so many tiny-teeny legs scurrying down into his toes, and his feet become lead weights. 

Something more sluggish writhes into his brain - a worm, perhaps - and little Haru is left feeling so fuzzy he can't think.

He doesn't even notice that Mr. Crawfish is mad at him, for taking the bittersweet treat from the table without paying for it. Haru ignores him, trudging off in a daze.

He walks through the street, the locals partaking in such obscenities that little Haru has surely never seen before. What a strange place this is, where a turtle and a salmon may become one, where no one is weeping for the skate that was eaten by a passing shark, where smoke plumes out the underwater vents the same way it does from that lobster's fat cigar.

That restaurant is selling the bodies of its customers, that hotel allows several males to, to touch a female at once, in such a disgustingly terrific way.

So this is where you've found yourself, little Haru.

What will you possibly do now?

He wanders out of the market, further and further from the town, until the road is gone.

Where did the road go?

How tragic it is, that little Haru has found himself lost here, so deep below the puddle's surface.

Naturally, he wishes to go instantly to that instinctional habit of lost children: curling up, crying to himself,  _Mama, Papa, Makoto-nii... Please find me..._

Find you?

How could you possibly imagine them able to find you when you have so quickly forgone all your humanity; don't you see? You're not even crying.

Little Haru tries harder, but the salty bubblegum tears swim through the water instead of rolling down his plump, pink cheeks.

_So this is what failure feels like?_

"What kind... of strange creature might this be?" An underwater torpedo of a voice drills into Haru's little ear.

Little Haru is startled. Only earlier had his hearing ceased working, yet now, he can clearly understand this, this -

It's a turtle. A turtle with a soft, green beak and a shell decorated beautifully with gently glowing lights of every colour little Haru's childish brain could imagine.

He wants to touch, he just wants to touch...

_Goodbye, Haruka..._

What was that?

"Do you come from someplace else?" The turtle asks, and its voice is homely and gentle, stroking Haru's cheeks, nuzzling his droopy eyes shut. He hadn't realized how tired he'd been...

"Ver' far away..." He mumbles with his too-young mannerisms.

"It's really pretty here, don't you think?"

A pregnant pause.

_Goodbye, goodbye..._

"If you want, you can stay. Forever. You can talk and listen... you can breathe."

Little Haru only wants to touch.

"Won't you follow me? Won't you follow the pretty lights?"

_Is it fulfilling? Are you happy like this?_

Pudgy fingers finally grasp one. A light. It's so warm... It's so very warm that precious Haru melts into it, his flesh becoming soupy like syrup and dripping, down, down...

_Goodbye, Haruka, I'm so grateful, goodbye..._

The gooey mess remains attached to the shell, and as the turtle swims away, more light gets caught on the stickiness.

...

 

 

 

 

 

...

Makoto runs to the fallen child, who has faceplanted into the muddy puddle, water splashing outwards upon impact.

"Hey! Haru-chan! C'mon, kiddo, get up." He urges the little boy to stand, but when he doesn't move at all, Makoto picks him up in his arms.

Cradling the tiny child, Makoto presses a palm to his forehead to check for a fever - but what's this?

His body's gone cold?!

 

 


End file.
